Truffles plus gourmet cuisine by star chefs plus a stunning Napa location. A magic formula? That would be the inaugural Napa Truffle Festival coming next month (Dec 10-12) to the Westin Verasa Napa.

Billed as North America’s premier truffle event, the festival will showcase the black Périgord truffle (Tuber melanosporum) and the black summer Burgundy truffle (Tuber aestivum/uncinatum) through a variety of cooking demonstration classes and truffle cultivation seminars, culminating in a 13-Michelin Star six-course Truffle Dinner, with each course created and expertly prepared by a Michelin star celebrity chef.

David Kinch, one of six star chefs featured at the Napa Truffle Festival

Truffles have been collected for nearly 4,000 years and are believed to be inducers of romance. Some would say they even achieved the pinnacle of haute cuisine when the ancients attributed them with magical powers.

Turning to science for a moment, Tuber melanosporum is the product of a symbiotic marriage between a subterranean mushroom and the roots of a tree. The truffle itself is the fruiting body of a fungal colony and usually grows beneath the drip line of the outermost branches of hazels and oaks. Because it cannot produce its own food, the fungus unites with a tree’s hair-like rootlets to develop symbiotic organs, called mycorrhizae, through which it feeds on carbohydrates and other nutrients photosynthesized in the tree canopy.

Unique to the Festival are the Michelin Star team of six chefs, who will lead culinary demonstration classes, spend quality time with Festival guests and showcase their unique skills and talents in the Michelin Star Truffle Dinner on Saturday evening.

At the Festival, the best truffle chefs in the world are complemented by the best truffle scientists in the world. Two of the most respected truffle scientists and some of the most knowledgeable experts on truffle cultivation will lead the scientific track of the festival.

The Napa Truffle Festival

December 10–12, 2010

White Peidmont and Black Perigord Truffles

The festival kicks off Friday evening with an opening reception at The Westin Verasa and organized dinners at select Napa restaurants.